Brayden Point scored twice, including the tiebreaking goal with 6:39 remaining, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Rangers 3-2 on Monday night.

Peter Budaj made 26 saves for his first win since Tampa Bay acquired him from the Los Angeles Kings in a trade for fellow goalie Ben Bishop. Gabriel Dumont also scored and Nikita Kucherov had two assists for the Lightning, who extended their winning streak to three games. They have picked up at least one point in eight of their last nine on the road.

Steven Kampfer and Michael Grabner had the goals for the Rangers, who won 4-1 on Sunday night in Detroit. They still hold a comfortable lead for the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.

Tampa Bay is in a tight race with Toronto and the New York Islanders for the final playoff spot in the East

Point broke a 2-all tie when he redirected Ondrej Palat's shot. Kucherov also assisted on the goal.

Antti Raanta made 13 saves and fell to 14-7-0 as the Rangers lost for only the third time this season in the second half of a back-to-back.

New York started strong, outshooting the Lightning 13-3 in the opening period, and took a 1-0 lead when Kampfer fired a rocket from the left point. After Budaj denied Derek Stepan from in close, the Rangers won the ensuing faceoff. Mats Zuccarello slid the puck across to Kampfer, who scored his 10th NHL goal and first as a member of the Rangers.

But the Lightning bounced back despite being heavily outshot. Tampa Bay scored its league-leading 53rd goal on the power play when Kucherov fed Point at 7:43 of the first.

Dumont redirected Jason Garrison's shot past Raanta to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 5:04 of the second. It was Dumont's third career goal, and second this season.

Shortly before that goal, Rangers rookie Pavel Buchnevich had a golden opportunity to give New York the lead. Mika Zibanejad made a great pass to set up Buchnevich, but the shot was fired wide.

New York tied it 2-all when Grabner scored his team-leading 27th goal at the 10:22 of the second. Grabner returned to action Sunday after being sidelined for five games with an injury sustained during practice.

Byron Froese, acquired in a trade with Toronto for Brian Boyle, made his Lightning debut and Vladislav Namestnikov returned to the lineup after missing one game with a lower-body injury.

NOTES: Budaj made his second appearance with the Lightning and improved to 28-21-3 overall this season. ... Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist missed his third consecutive game with a hip strain and is expected to remain out of the lineup for two to three weeks. . Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi missed his eighth consecutive game with an ankle injury. However, the alternate captain is expected to resume skating on Tuesday. . New York D Kevin Klein was sidelined for the 11th straight game with back spasms. . New York scratched defenseman Adam Clendening, forward Matt Puempel and forward Brandon Pirri. . Lightning forwards Tyler Johnson and Cedric Paquette each missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. Tampa Bay scratched D Luke Witkowski.

UP NEXT

Lightning: Visit the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.

Rangers: Host the Florida Panthers on Friday.